Since March 2018, we have the new version of ISO450001 and marks the three-year migration process for all those companies that have the OSHAS 18001 standard, but now, relating them to the OSHAS 18001 standard, we can see that many of the requirements of This standard is maintained by incorporating those that have proven highly effective in other occupational health and safety systems, as well as other related management system requirements.
On March 12, ISO 45001, Safety and Health at Work Management System, was published, which provides a unified set of requirements focused on the prevention of accidents, injuries and illnesses that occurred during the working day. and that provides the basis to help all those companies achieve the objective of avoiding harm to their workers and promoting effective habits that provide improvements in the future.
The scenario of health and safety at work.
Since the process of creating this ISO 45001 Standard, Safety and Health at Work Management System, has been started, it has been talked about the 2.78 million deaths a year related to work accidents of which 2 million they correspond to diseases related to exposure to situations of risk and not to accidents themselves. Sometimes, a more drastic vision is chosen, remembering that every 15 seconds a work accident occurs with a fatal result and 153 people suffer injuries resulting from the performance of a work activity.
The truth is that these figures reflect the increase in work accidents that is occurring, diversifying the injuries and entering fields that were not previously paid attention. And it is that the application of new technologies in the workplace, the progressive disappearance of factories with heavy work by the incorporation of automated machines, the increased appearance of office positions, the increase in life expectancy, the complexity of supply chains, the internationalization of companies that can cause blind spots to be created when dealing with work risks in countries with very different habits, customs and training, the need to incorporate contractors and suppliers in the management of these risks as part of health and safety at work, etc., have complicated the scenario in which companies operate, expanding with it the conception of the importance, which has always had, achieve, maintain and promote some work environments safe and healthy, now including the implications of stress, muscular and visual diseases, eye fatigue, etc., within the field of action uations to improve.
This Occupational Safety and Health sector has already had some previous successful systems, as is the case of OHSAS 18001, however now it is nullified and gives way to ISO 45001, which combines technical rigor, experience and its integration with other systems and strategic direction of the company, responding to a broad debate to unify different situations and provide unique answers to the varied cultural scenarios.
Some of the novelties of new requirements are:
- Alignment with the high level structure that gives us an image similar to that we could already observe in other management systems that have been revised in previous years such as ISO 9001, Quality Management System, or ISO 14001 , System of Environmental Management, and that allows an integration of the different efforts of the company in the fields that lay the foundations of growth and constant improvement.
- Promotes the knowledge of the context and the effective and continuous communication with the different stakeholders as an essential part of the improvement and that provides, as an added value, a confidence, security and brand image that is aware of the health and safety of the workers so necessary for differentiate yourself from other companies in the same sector.
- It includes a high commitment from top management and the effective execution of this leadership to carry out the objectives set and achieve safety and health in the workplace, as well as enhance the involvement and participation of workers.
- The need to identify hazards and evaluate the risks derived from work activity is reinforced by relating them to the context of the company in which external and internal factors have been taken into account. We must also bear in mind those situations that allow us to take advantage of an opportunity for improvement.
- Development of a culture of prevention and improvement that allows continued growth.
These are some of the most relevant aspects, although we must also bear in mind that the new text reflects an increase in the responsibility of the organization, a greater and better definition of the concepts that avoid failures of understanding, greater involvement of the company’s personnel in the Occupational Health and Safety Management System, greater awareness among all personnel of the implication of not complying with the established measures and the objectives set, etc.